IMC 2018: Sessions

This session is conceived as a space to present and share reflections, methodologies, and results about the what and how of the religious women's literacy. What: Scholars have recently focused on inventories, wills, and other administrative documents in order to get an idea of, firstly, the kind of instruction and, secondly, the literary usages of religious women beyond the guidelines of the written rules or habits (usually scanty). Other texts have been particularly useful to fulfill this goal, such as meditative / spiritual works, and exemplar Vitae or even briefer records like obituaries. However, there is still a long way to go regarding whether regular or secular female communities. How: It is indeed crucial to stress the importance of how when dealing with literacy. Devotional practices, space and place, performative usages, collective and individual instruction, and the participation of the body are some of the aspects that make us rethink the intellectual patterns of medieval women. Within this framework we encourage interdisciplinary enquiry into anthropological, visual, musicological, or literary perspectives conjured up by words, movement, sound, images, or material sources.